Tag

Mastodon

The results are in for the Fourtheye Readers Top 10 Albums of 2017. The poll didn’t get a huge amount of entries this year (partially my fault, since I didn’t push it too hard) but also a reflection of lower traffic these days on Fourtheye (I think partly to to many now consuming Tool news via various Social Media channels rather than older style websites).

Anyway, without further delay, here are the results, as well as my thoughts on these albums.

1. Mastodon – Emperor of Sand

Seeing this as number 1 on this list wasn’t a huge surprise for me (in fact it’ll rate quite highly on my list as well). Mastodon are a band that inspire plenty of discussion, mostly people lamenting that they’re not as good as they used to be. While I don’t disagree, I the band aren’t trying to be that same band that recorded Leviathan. Emperor of Sand is the best album they’ve put out this decade, and could well be the high point of modern-era Mastodon.

2. Queens of the Stone Age – Villains

Queens of the Stone Age are a long time favorite of Tool fans, and while I thought this album was pretty forgettable, it seems to be good enough that many of you nominated it. QOTSA notably brought on a pop producer for this album, which added a subtle pop vibe to the album, but ultimately was let down by bland songwriting.

3. At The Drive In – In*ter*a*lia

Relationship of Command was an easy 10/10 album. A few years back At The Drive In reformed, and as many reformed acts do wrote a new album, this time without one of their main songwriters. The results were mixed I though, some great tracks, and a bunch of filler.

4. Code Orange – Forever

Another album that will be featuring in my top 10 – Code Orange delivered a great album full of hardcore punk with several surprising moments. The album covers a range of punk moments, but also unexpectedly shifts into grunge, pop and even Nine Inch Nails sounding moments.

5. Pallbearer – Heartless

I’m not a huge fan of these guys, so only listened to this album once or twice. Pallbearer seem to be pretty popular among Tool fans though, and they’ve featured in these lists several times before.

6. Primus – The Desaturating Seven

Primus delivered another concept album, this time based on a children’s book The Rainbow Goblins. It features Justin Chancellornarrating on track 1 in case you missed it! I really enjoyed this album, it was step in a more progressive direction, which I think suits Primus really well. Only drawback was that it felt like a really short album.

7. Leprous – Malina

Never listened to this band before, and have it playing while I write this. Wikipedia tells me Leprous are a Norwegian progressive metal band. Based on what I’ve heard I’d categorise them a bit more as rock. The album isn’t bad – if Karnivool (and the like) are your thing then you’d likely enjoy it.

8. Elder – Reflections of a Floating World

The last Elder album was pretty great, and while this one didn’t quite live it to that, it’s a really solid effort from a very talented band!

9. Converge – The Dusk in Us

Converge are one of those punk bands that are considered cool enough that they are automatic inclusions into many top 10 lists. While I really like Converge, I didn’t think this album was anything special. If modern hardcore punk is your think though, make sure you check it out!

10. Steven Wilson – To The Bone

Well know progressive rock artist Steven Wilson is one who often rates highly among Tool fans. I listened to this album a few times earlier this year, and it sounds almost exactly like a Steven Wilson album. You know whether or not you’re going to enjoy this even before you listen!

Only the second edition of this weekly update thing, and already I feel like I have bugger all to write about. Strap yourselves in for a bunch of somewhat vaguely relevant “Tool” news!

In this weeks edition:

Aenima turns 21

Tool + Taylor Swift Mashup

Signed “Chet Zar: I Like To Paint Monsters” DVD Documentary

New music I’ve enjoyed this week!

Aenima turns 21

Moreso than Undertow, I think Aenima should be considered Tool’s breakthrough album, as it signaled to the world the direction this band would take in years to come. It was released back on September 17 in 1996, and given that I became a Tool fan not long after it’s release, I guess 21st anniversary of Tool fandom is coming up as well.

No real fanfare from the band, no collectors edition re-issue (though Danny did hint a little while back that their old albums are going to be remastered/issued). If you’re lucky enough to own it on vinyl, give it a spin for me.

Tool + Taylor Swift Mashup

Look what you made me do:

Signed “Chet Zar: I Like To Paint Monsters” DVD Documentary

A guy called OD emailed me today, telling me he had the opportunity to catch up with artist Chet Zar recently. He says that the really liked Chet Zar’s DVD I Like To Paint Monsters and we should all go out and buy a copy. It includes his relationship with Adam Jones and involvement with Tool and also his involvement with the “Hellboy” movies amongst other topics. I’m yet to check it out, but it’s always been on my list to do so. You can get signed copies for $25, so sounds like a good deal!

Music

The last few weeks have been good for music, here’s a few albums I’ve enjoyed, that perhaps you might too. Have a recommendation? Let me know!

90s rock band Living Colour have a new album out called Shade – it’s great worth a listen!

Mastodon will be putting out an EP soon called Cold Dark Place. You can check out the first track off it called Toe to Toes here. Speaking of Mastodon, I think Emperor of Sand is one of my favorite albums from this year.

Aussie prog metal band Mish put out a great album earlier this year called Entheogen. Check it out

A couple of quick ones today. Blair has advised us via Toolband/Army that Vicarious took the 100th spot in Rolling Stones recent Top 100 Guitar Songs list. Why Vicarious beat a whole shitload of other Tool songs is bound to be a source of debate.

Also, Blabbermouth are reporting that Fusewill be broadcasting Mastodon‘s set from Bonnaroo live on the web on Sunday evening US time (Monday morning for us). They will also be showing the Metallica performance from the same festival for those that would like to see these ageing metal giants. Hopefully Lars will bring a proper drumkit along rather than a set of paint tins.

Scarletletterman from Toolarmy has put together a compilation ove live bootlegs with many of the guest musicians that have played with Tool over the years. It seems pretty comprehensive to me, so grab a copy from Megaupload. Big thumbs up!

Last weeks poll was a litle controversial, in that several people couldn’t stomach the though of having anyone else other than Danny drumming to Tool. I’m somewhat in the same boat in that I believe he couldn’t be replaced, but these polls are about “what if” type situations, so I ask for your opinion on who could replace him, not whether or not he could be replaced.

Personally, I’m a little surprised that for once the pick I made finished last. Personally I think Igor Cavalera is one of the best drummers around, and I reckon he’d do a great job with Tool. Tim Alexander would probably be my second choice. Out of all the drummer their I think that he would cope best with the various time changes.

It looks like Josh Freese was the overall winner. I think he’s a great drummer, but I don’t really think he would be suitable.

A couple of other suggestions were Dave Grohl and Virgil Donati. Another couple of good choices, though Dave would probably struggle with some of the more complex stuff. Either way we’re debating something here that will most likely never happen. I think all drummers here a good in their own way, and would add an aspect different aspect to Tool.

Josh Freese 139 Votes

Neil Peart of Rush 92 Votes

Tomas Haake of Meshuggah 80 Votes

Tim Alexander of Primus 60 Votes

Terry Bozzio 40 Votes

Brann Dailor of Mastodon 32 Votes

Dave Lombardo of Slayer 26 Votes

Roland 20 Votes

Igor Cavalera of Sepultura 11 Votes

Oh, and for those of you who didn’t get the joke, Roland is the drummer from Big Black, who was in fact a Drum Machine.

I found this short interview with Justin today on Time-Off today. It’s not particularly long, but it does have a few interesting points:

TO: Does the band choose which support acts it plays with?

JC: “Yes, we completely decide that. It just comes down to what we’re into, and obviously everyone has different ideas about that – everyone’s got a different current thing that they love. So we just sort of take it in turns. We try to split it up a little bit – you know, six weeks for one band then six weeks for another. We just finished a month or so with Isis, and we’re on the road with Mastodon right now for this next six weeks. It’s really fun getting the bands that you love to play in front of you every night – getting to watch them before you do your own thing.”

Not so sure about the Tool “just wrapped up a three-hour concert in Milan, Italy” bit though….

I know some people out there are interested in my opinion. If you’re not one of those, stop reading now. You won’t find (much) Tool information in this post.

Since I don’t listen to every single album out there, rather than try and compile a top ten list out of the probably 11 albums I’ve listen to this year, I’m just going to post a few mini-reviews on albums that have caught my attention this year. Here we go:

Tool – 10,000 Days

I’m sure it comes to no ones surprise that 10,000 Days is my favorite album of 2006. I mean it would be kinda pointless to run a Tool website and not love the band. Unlike some people though, I love 10,000 Days, and personally think it’s second only to Lateralus. “Sacrilege” I hear all you Aenima fans yelling, but that’s just how I feel about it. To me 10,000 Days is a consistently good album, which highlights the skill of the individuals within the band, and pretty much met all of the expectations I had about the album during all the hype before it was released.

Peeping Tom – Peeping Tom

After many years of speculation, Mike Patton’s Peeping Tom project finally came to fruition this year. I’ve been a Patton fan since getting into Faith No More in high school, and I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed by the record. I’m unashamedly a fan of heavy music, and I guess the fact that Peeping Tom was largely a hip-hop electronic type record didn’t quite work for me. But maybe not, I actually like the General Patton vs The Executioners album, yet there’s something about Peeping Tom that I just can’t quite get into. In the end, I don’t think it’s a terrible album, but I don’t think it’s an amazing one either.

Mastodon – Blood Mountain

Well this is one of those albums which pretty much everyone seems to be adding to their top 10s this year. Mastodon are a great band, there’s no doubting that they’re a talented bunch of musicians, and Blood Mountain was a great CD. I was a little disappointed though. I really liked Leviathan and Blood Mountain just didn’t quite stack up to it for me.

As Blood Runs Black – Allegiance

I stumbled across these guys on Myspace about a month ago now. I was looking at a so called “Deathcore” band who’s name escapes me at the moment, and came across these guys. After listening to their samples I decided that these guys kicked some serious ass. Nothing really special about this lot, no overly talented musicians, just balls to the wall metal, but not that old school Trivium type crap that seems to be popular these days. Well worth checking out if your tastes venture to the heavier end of the spectrum.

The Melvins – (A) Senile Animal

I never really got into The Melvins until pretty late in the game. I was always conscious that they were around during the 90s (Kurt Cobain didn’t let us forget about them). Their last few albums though have really made me sit up and take notice though, and (A) Senile Animal is pretty much the best of them. Employing the talents of Big Business, the Melvins took the unusual route of having two drummers. This really paid off in my opinion, and created a drum sound not quite like anything else I’ve heard. Here’s hoping for a Melvins tour (with Big Business) down under in 2007.

Isis – In The Absence of Truth

Isis have always been a little meh to me, and In the Absence of Truth seems to continue this downward spiral unfortunately. I much prefer heavy Isis, but this album just seems to soften them up a bit too much for my liking.

Dr Octagon – The Return of Dr. Octagon

Kool Keith is pretty much the best rapper going around these days, and The Return of Dr. Octagon is a great album, though probably not quite as good as the first. It does contain one of my favorite tracks this year with the funky Trees.

Body Count – Murder For Hire

Ah Body Count. No one can deny (not even Doors) that Copkiller is one of the great albums of all time. If you don’t own it or haven’t heard it, do yourself a favor and check it out now. Murder For Hire seems to be by the numbers metal album though. All the humour that made the Copkiller album so great seems to be non existant, and the production values sound like that it was recorded for $100 down at the local University Radio Station. Don’t waste any money on this on, BC is no longer in the house….

The Mars Volta – Amputechture

The Mars Volta seem to spurt out music at a pretty prolific rate. It seems like only the other day I was wondering why the fuck people thought Frances the Mute was any good. The Amputechture cam out, and while it was better, it still leaves me wondering why so many people worship the sun shining out of the TMVs assholes. It’s not a bad album, and a few of the songs have some great moments, but I just don’t have the patience these days to sit through all the drivel to get to the good bits.

Sparta – Threes

Sparta seem to contain all the good bits of At The Drive-In, and I’ve been a fan of theirs for a while. This new album is a little softer than before, but still has the same emo sounds that we all love to hate. I probably haven’t given this enough listens to really comment too much, but it seems quite good to me. I’ve really gotta get 10,000 Days out of the stereo a bit more to give these guys a shot.

So there, we go, that pretty sums up my year in new music listening. Feel free to agree or disagree with what I’ve said here. I value your opinions as much as I hope you value mine. Let me know what you think I’ve missed out on. Don’t both suggesting Thom Yorke though…

Kel tells me that recent Tool tourmates Mastodon are coming down to Australia (and New Zealand). And to top things off, they’re playing with Slayer! What a gig! Here are the dates if you’re interested:

Triple J are running their annual Hottest 100 again this year, and for the first time in 5 years Tool are eligable. For those who don’t know what it is, Triple J is an annual online poll in which Triple J listeners vote for their favorite 10 tracks of the year. Then, normally around Australia Day, Triple J play a countdown of the top 100 tracks. Voting is open to anyone, just go to the website, pick your tracks and submit. Jambi, Vicarious and The Pot are the available Tool tracks at the moment, but in theory you could add any track from 10,000 Days to your vote.

After a couple of ideas? Personally I voted for a few tracks from Tool, Dr. Octagon, Mastodon, Peeping Tom and Tom Waits. Feel free to let us know what else you have picked.

If you care about these kind of poll, make sure you vote. Let’s see if we can avoid having some shitty Powderfinger related act or Jet winning this year….

While you’re at the Triple J site, you can also vote on your album of the year. Unsurprisingly I picked 10,000 Days. Make your vote count.

Last weeks poll asked who who you would prefer see Tool tour with again. This options ai gave were made up of artists Tool have toured with in the last couple of tours. I was somewhat surprised to see King Crimson win the poll. I knew they were popular amongst Tool fans but didn’t expect them to win the poll. I voted for Tomahawk based pretty much on the fact that they’re my favorite band on that list, but really I’d be happy seeing any of the bands on that list. Here are the results:

King Crimson 108 Votes

Isis 92 Votes

Meshuggah 64 Votes

The Melvins 53 Votes

Tomahawk 37 Votes

Fantomas 33 Votes

Mastodon 31 Votes

Tricky 29 Votes

This week the poll asks what Tool item you would rather see in your Xmas stocking on Monday morning. Vote away!!